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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481558">Forgiveness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natasja/pseuds/Natasja'>Natasja</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath of The Burning of the Manuscript, Amy made a big mistake, F/M, Gen, Jo doesn't owe Amy forgiveness, Repentance, and no-one should have let her believe that she was, and she wasn't responsible for Amy nearly drowning, but she still needs to make amends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:27:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481558</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natasja/pseuds/Natasja</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jo was scared when Amy fell into the ice, but that doesn't mean that all is forgiven.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amy March &amp; Elizabeth March, Amy March &amp; Josephine March, Amy March &amp; Margaret March</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Forgiveness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>Amy thought that, once she recovered from falling through the ice, Jo wouldn’t be angry with her anymore.</p><p>Surely being confined to bed with a chill, while Meg scolded her for not checking the ice, was punishment enough? Nothing could be worse than Aunt March haughty scorn as she prattled on about Amy taking too much after Papa. Why couldn’t Jo see that she was sorry and just forgive her?</p><p>But the first morning she was allowed downstairs, Jo got up and left as soon as Amy sat down. Laurie was trapped in lessons for the day, Beth was of the opinion that Amy needed to apologise properly before she could expect forgiveness, and Meg had given up trying to defend Amy to Jo. Marmee was busy with the charity work for the soldiers, and perhaps hadn’t realised that Jo was holding a grudge, since Amy’s second-oldest sister wasn’t shouting anymore.</p><p>Amy had apologised, sincerely if grudgingly. She did feel bad about her actions, and wanted Jo’s forgiveness. What else was she supposed to do?</p><p>Maybe Beth would have a better idea…</p><hr/><p>For the sister best known to be shy and compassionate (a sharp contest to Jo’s brash personality), Beth could be just as obstinate as their second sister, when she felt justified in it. “Well, what did you expect, Amy? You burned the thing Jo valued most, all because you couldn’t stand not being invited to the theatre, and after Meg offered to take you another time.”</p><p>Well, yes, but it had been Laurie, and a night at the theatre like a proper young Lady, and it wasn’t fair that Laurie only had eyes for Jo, and Mr Brooks for Meg. Especially when Amy loved him and anyone with eyes could see that Jo only saw his as a friend and pseudo-brother. Amy couldn’t stop her lips curling into an angry pout. “I said I was sorry, I was going to apologise again when I fell into the lake.”</p><p>Beth folded her arms. “And what about next time Jo is invited somewhere without you? Will you chop her writing desk into firewood if Aunt March takes her to Europe? Break her pens and spill her ink over her next story when Laurie asks her to dance?”</p><p>Not now that she knew Jo’s ability to throw a punch. Amy scowled, “No, but it’s just words on paper. She shouldn’t still be holding it against me.”</p><p>Meg walked in, carrying her work basket. “It’s not just that, Amy, and you know it. Since you’re still too unwell to get up, you can help me with the mending.”</p><p>Amy hated mending. One day, when she was a fine lady with servants, she would never touch another piece of mending in her life. Meg’s expression brooked no argument, though, and Amy picked up a stocking, reluctantly threading her needle. “What do you mean?”</p><p>Meg’s needle flew through a rip in a skirt, stitches tiny and neat. Beth was so much better at mending than Amy was; why did she have to make Amy help?. “You said you were sorry, but you haven’t showed it. Jo’s manuscript was her life’s work, something she poured her heart and soul into. She has every right to be upset. You take Jo very much for granted, you know.”</p><p>Amy frowned again, trying to find an argument to refute Meg and Beth’s words. It was even more annoying to discover that she couldn’t. Jo already worked as Aunt March’s companion, but when Marmee insisted that she take over Amy’s lessons when Amy refused to go back to school, Jo had (despite her protests and Amy’s disinclination toward book learning). Amy had assumed that Jo would always be there, would forgive her everything, because they were sisters.</p><p>Maybe that wasn’t enough, after all.</p><p>The thought of not having Jo – any of her sisters – in her life made Amy feel like a hollow pit had opened in her stomach. “What can I do to make things right?”</p><p>Her older sisters, bar the one that still refused to stay in the same room, exchanged tired glances, before Beth sighed. “I honestly don’t know.”</p><hr/><p>It was Amy’s turn to have the rag money for the month.</p><p>Her first thought was to spend it on limes so she could show her former schoolmates that they were wrong to sneer at her, or something to trim the hat she had bought last time. Amy was halfway to the milliner’s shop when she stopped short.</p><p>Beth and Meg said that she needed to make it up to Jo, to prove that she actually was sorry.</p><p>Amy had read bits of Jo’s manuscript – another deliberate violation, since Jo didn’t even give Beth unrestricted access to her work – as she burned the pages. Her recall wasn’t perfect, but she remembered parts of it well enough to copy them out. The store had paper… not fine stationary, but cheaper sort that Jo would buy in reams to write on.</p><p>It would take nearly all of the month’s rag money, and part of Amy already winced at the thought of sitting and writing for hours… but she owed Jo that much. </p><p>If she wanted to earn her sister’s forgiveness, mend the trust she had broken, then Amy had better start with replacing what she had destroyed. </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Something that always bugged me about this section is that everyone is shocked and horrified at what Amy did, but in the majority of versions, emphasis is placed on the need for Jo to forgive, rather than for Amy to make amends. Perhaps there would have been punishment, if Amy hadn't fallen into the river, but it's basically brushed off and never mentioned again.<br/>Jo has every right to be furious at not only the destruction of her life's work, but the loss of what, at that point, would have been a significant (for her) financial investment in terms of paper, ink and time. She has every right to be skate off to escape when Amy insists again on being included in her time with Laurie, not a day after she deliberately burned the thing she knew Jo held most precious. If Jo tells her to go away, rather than pretending she doesn't hear Amy, what is next?</p><p>Once, my sister deleted my writing folder, because I refused to move out of my room so she could use it for a sleepover. I still had my notebook, and some of it was posted online already, but that wasn't acceptable behaviour. The sleepover was cancelled, my sister was grounded, and I didn't speak to her for almost a month.<br/>Mum eventually staged an intervention, but it drove home the lesson that a forced apology isn't a fix-all, and that her actions had consequences.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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